Today was a beautiful day! I wanted to bike to the library and try out my new child bike seat, but the kids and I need to do some practice runs first. I'm thinking we'll bike to the church and back, the school and back and then the park and back before we do the library and back. We all need to build up our stamina and I need to be sure that they know the rules of the road and how to follow the leader first. Someone stopped me as we headed in to the library and asked me, "Where those your kids that ran past?" I was a little worried they had run someone over or something, but I admitted they were. The gentleman continued, "They are sure cute. So, do you have three boys and a girl?" I said, "No, I have four. . . no, wait a minute, five boys and a girl." I had to stop and count my kids to make sure I had the right count of kids! Okay, some people are probably going to think that's irresponsible, but I just think it's funny.
I hate when you wake up with a canker sore and know that you still have to teach and talk today. Luckily, it feels like a pretty small one so it should be gone soon.
Religion - The kids watched as video segment about some of the persecution that Joseph Smith faced. Maybe at the end of the year, we'll take a field trip
to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and watch one of the movies they have there. I'm pretty sure we have it here at home, but it would be more special to go out and see it. I helped Chicklette narrate what they watched.
Math - Racer finished his math easily in the morning. I still need to check it. Chicklette did her math pretty easily too and she only missed two because she forgot what 6+3 was. Racer is doing really well with his Xtramath and he's pretty excited to tell me every day how many smiley faces he got in a row. I think he may pass off division this week or next. Chicklette is still working at it and these last few days, I think she may have actually focused on it.
Science - We had a fun experiment today. This week, like last, is all about balance so we got a bal of modeling clay into a balloon and blew the balloon up. Because the balloon's center of gravity was actually the center of the modeling clay, the balloon wobbled all over the place. The kids had a great time with the balloons until they both popped within seconds of each other. It's always nice when an experiment or demonstration actually works.
Spelling - I gave Chicklette her lesson today about syllable division and then she practiced writing sentences. Racer and I did his lesson yesterday so he just had to write his sentences. It's so nice that he can do so much of his work self-directed now. I hate to send him off to school next year when we are actually establishing a good rhythm.
History - We've been studying World War II these last few days. Today I was crying all over the place trying to read the two books I picked up for the kids. One was called Growing Up During World War II and it was quite good. The other, Don't You Know There's A War On by James Stevenson, was very good too. The first was definitely non-fiction and a little drier. The second was more personal and made me cry even more. The boy's father and brother are both involved in the war and he is very frank about now knowing what to do and how to take care of his mother like his father asked him to. The kids weren't too sure of what to do about my crying, but Chicklette gave me a hug and told me it was okay. Sometime this week we'll watch episode 10 of America:The Story of US.
Piano - I did give Racer his piano lesson today and we talked about the composition of scales. I didn't get around to Chicklette's lesson, it I did get her to practice. I'll give her her lesson tomorrow and I think she will pass off the piece she was working on.
Latin - Racer did his Latin segment without any help. I think it probably helps that all the grammar terms we learned in Latin are terms that he has learned and reviewed in grammar for the past three years. Chicklette hasn't had those three years yet so she got a little frustrated and so did I. I don't know why shed has such trouble remembering past, present and future tense though.
Writing with Ease - We got Racer's dictation done, but not Chicklette's. That reminds me, I need to ask him tomorrow how he liked The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. He asked me to get it from the library when he heard me read a selection to Chicklette last week for her Writing with Ease, and I think he read it all today. Racer did okay on Writing with Ease today. I had to read the sentence four times instead of three and prompt him a couple times.
I think that's all we did today besides also play outside. Tomorrow we are going with Racer's Knights of Freedom group to the Humanitarian Center. It should be an interesting tour. Hopefully the twins will behave themselves. They usually do in the stroller if they are in motion and I am sure the other kids will do fine.
I hate when you wake up with a canker sore and know that you still have to teach and talk today. Luckily, it feels like a pretty small one so it should be gone soon.
Religion - The kids watched as video segment about some of the persecution that Joseph Smith faced. Maybe at the end of the year, we'll take a field trip
to the Joseph Smith Memorial Building and watch one of the movies they have there. I'm pretty sure we have it here at home, but it would be more special to go out and see it. I helped Chicklette narrate what they watched.
Math - Racer finished his math easily in the morning. I still need to check it. Chicklette did her math pretty easily too and she only missed two because she forgot what 6+3 was. Racer is doing really well with his Xtramath and he's pretty excited to tell me every day how many smiley faces he got in a row. I think he may pass off division this week or next. Chicklette is still working at it and these last few days, I think she may have actually focused on it.
Science - We had a fun experiment today. This week, like last, is all about balance so we got a bal of modeling clay into a balloon and blew the balloon up. Because the balloon's center of gravity was actually the center of the modeling clay, the balloon wobbled all over the place. The kids had a great time with the balloons until they both popped within seconds of each other. It's always nice when an experiment or demonstration actually works.
Spelling - I gave Chicklette her lesson today about syllable division and then she practiced writing sentences. Racer and I did his lesson yesterday so he just had to write his sentences. It's so nice that he can do so much of his work self-directed now. I hate to send him off to school next year when we are actually establishing a good rhythm.
History - We've been studying World War II these last few days. Today I was crying all over the place trying to read the two books I picked up for the kids. One was called Growing Up During World War II and it was quite good. The other, Don't You Know There's A War On by James Stevenson, was very good too. The first was definitely non-fiction and a little drier. The second was more personal and made me cry even more. The boy's father and brother are both involved in the war and he is very frank about now knowing what to do and how to take care of his mother like his father asked him to. The kids weren't too sure of what to do about my crying, but Chicklette gave me a hug and told me it was okay. Sometime this week we'll watch episode 10 of America:The Story of US.
Piano - I did give Racer his piano lesson today and we talked about the composition of scales. I didn't get around to Chicklette's lesson, it I did get her to practice. I'll give her her lesson tomorrow and I think she will pass off the piece she was working on.
Latin - Racer did his Latin segment without any help. I think it probably helps that all the grammar terms we learned in Latin are terms that he has learned and reviewed in grammar for the past three years. Chicklette hasn't had those three years yet so she got a little frustrated and so did I. I don't know why shed has such trouble remembering past, present and future tense though.
Writing with Ease - We got Racer's dictation done, but not Chicklette's. That reminds me, I need to ask him tomorrow how he liked The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. He asked me to get it from the library when he heard me read a selection to Chicklette last week for her Writing with Ease, and I think he read it all today. Racer did okay on Writing with Ease today. I had to read the sentence four times instead of three and prompt him a couple times.
I think that's all we did today besides also play outside. Tomorrow we are going with Racer's Knights of Freedom group to the Humanitarian Center. It should be an interesting tour. Hopefully the twins will behave themselves. They usually do in the stroller if they are in motion and I am sure the other kids will do fine.